Tead Off wrote:I think your advice is good for many of the teachatters, though. A different economic class if I might say. Agarwood at $500/per gram requires a different economic category that is not your average tea drinker!

Can barely afford it so I use it only in rare occassion. I use a sliver in one brewing session only. A gram of it is micro sliced into almost 50 micro sliver pieces. And still this one tiny miny micro sliver elevate the tea to many levels higher..in aroma, taste, texture and mental and spritual enhancement. Quite a unique experience and those who tried it would definately appreciate it.

I've tried aged tea with authentic (albeit processed) shilajit before. Luckily it was at the last brew, as it tasted just like dissolved shilajit and the effects didn't merge or reinforce each other either. Really interesting to see there are people pursuing this sort of tea alchemy.

This is not a new idea, but I just like to highlight for others interest and awareness.

I have a friend who is 82 years old now and still very healthy and still practising Chinese medicine. I often have lengthy discussions with him on herbs and ingredients, Chinese medicine and concept of health and learned a lot from him and apply some of the knowledge on tea.

My another big hobby is incense and fragrances which compliment tea ceremony. I enjoy Japanese incense "listening" and Chinese incense culture for many years (also have a vast collection of exotic incense and incense woods ). Traditionally incense are burn to calm the mind before tea ceremony and I do it on daily basis especially before my tea session. Anyway, this is another big topic of discussion. I hope our fellow tea chatters here can have a thought in this and incorporate this wonderful practice/culture as part of your tea enjoyment.

Be careful. There is a lot of fake in Agarwood. Some are not even Agarwood at all eg buaya. Also avoid plantation ones as they use chemical to aggravate the tree to produce resin. This is another big topic and even more insane price item. Tread cautiously my friend.

If you are curious about aged puerh that is in optimal condition, this will be the best $13 you will spend. (Better yet, spend $26 and knock yourself out with 10 grams.) It is a lovely and long-winded extract that will fulfill your senses cup after cup. Less camphor/twang than 7542, but big richness.

Essence of Tea's new Guafengzhai... Hmmm, I have a hard time finding stronger positives of this one. It is a GFZ sort of tea, yes, but without much of its sweet depth, I'm afraid. Outside the unimpressive taste, it is really unimpressive too. Got to try it with stove water tomorrow.

Enjoying day 2 with a sample of puerh that, if I recall correctly, came as a bonus with an order of teaware. It's labelled 2012 spring Luo Shui Dong, from Tea Urchin. A mellow herbaceous anise-y sweet young loose puerh.

debunix wrote:Enjoying day 2 with a sample of puerh that, if I recall correctly, came as a bonus with an order of teaware. It's labelled 2012 spring Luo Shui Dong, from Tea Urchin. A mellow herbaceous anise-y sweet young loose puerh.

I used just a small bit of leaf--didn't weigh, now wish I had--enough to only fill the gaiwan 1/3 when wetted, and stopped last night after perhaps 20 or so infusions because I ran out of water in the kettle. I was still only on 1 minute infusions. Will do more infusions today.

solitude wrote:I am at the end of a session with the 2012 YS autumn mushu cha. I think it is a very good tea for that money. Especially the aftertaste and qi. Did any of you try this sheng?

I've tried both the spring and fall version. Personally, I thought the spring version tasted like rotgut, but I loved how long and complex the aftertaste was. Intense chaqi as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the session, but I made sure to give away the rest of the sample

The fall version was much more to my liking. Maybe not quite as strong as it's spring sister, but that's hardly a put-down. I liked the apricoty taste, and thought it provided a good conterpoint to the strong astringency. After a decently long morning session, I put what I thought were mostly spent leaves into a tumbler to take on the road. This turned out to be bad mistake, as the result was undrinkably strong. I can definitely see myself picking up a cake.

Two things confused me about the fall version. One was how orange the soup was for being a young sheng. The other was how the price compared to the spring version. Sure, it was stronger, but over twice the price stronger? But what do I know...

I am drinking a very good Puerh now and am on the second steeping. It is a 2001 Harney and Sons puerh. The man in the store said it was Shu Puerh but upon drinking it I think it is Sheng. It has that vegetal sheng flavor, but is very smooth. The tea looks like either a semi aged sheng or a shu puerh. Upon steeping it looked like a sheng or very light shu. Harney and Sons in Manhatten sells broken up cakes in 2 oz tins, not whole cakes. It is overpriced at around $19 a tin or so if I remember correctly. Has anyone else drank this tea?